Meeting with the Education Promoters of Zapatista Autonomous Municipality '16 de Febrero'

Education Promoters and Pupils Speak

In February 2007 we visited the autonomous schools in zapatista autonomous municipality '16 de Febrero'. Here we reproduce the words of the pupils, the education promoters and the communities. The education promoters are local indigenous people who have the responsibility for education and learning, teachers as we would say, but very different from the official teachers in the government schools, as they made clear.

To try and ensure that the state does not use this information against the people, in their campaign of low intensity warfare and counter-insurgency, we have not identified the schools and villages. However it is important to realise the schools are very much part of their communities. One of the schools is called "Juan and Fernando" school, after two men who were killed by the forces of the state and landowner, during the land occupation that led to the founding of their community.

The first visit

The local autonomous primary school has 34 pupils, with classes from the 1st level to the 4th level.

We need education for our sons and daughters. We know well that in this country, in this region, that the government teachers never teach about the realities of our life, the poverty and marginalisation, the bad treatment by the rich.

Thus we began to think, to analyse what is needed in education. We realised that we need autonomous education, so that from a young age our children are conscious of our bad treatment by the government.

The development of autonomous education

"Our first step was to build the Escuelita, the little school. Now we are at the second stage, with this second school that was built by the strength of the people, by the voluntary work of the community.

However there is still much more needed. We need a bigger school, where the children can grow up well to go forward in their lives and in the struggle. At present there is only one classroom for the different classes.

We are poor, we don't have more resources to build a bigger school. But we hope that one day with your help our education can improve and go forward."

The villagers explained that they had identified land where they could build a bigger school, and had plans to do that, but as yet didn't have the resources to enable them to start construction.

Elderly man - "It is a great necessity, to have a bigger school. In the school the young people can learn good ideas, to carry on the struggle, to take over from the older people (the ancianos). "

Education is a Principle

A woman says - "Education is a great need for us, it is a principle. Before with the government schools, they didn't teach about the real situation. We were kept isolated.

But since we created the autonomous school, the children now understand that we live in a situation of marginalisation.

We do need new better classrooms for the school."

Education Promoter

The education promoters have studied for 3 years at the autonomous secondary school at Oventik. We are the 4th generation of education promoters.

"We are taking autonomous education forward. But we have a lot of things we lack and need at our school.

We don't have a proper school, we don't have adequate blackboards, we don't have coloured pens, we need a dictionary, we need a kitchen and a dormitory for the promoters, at present we are being lent the use of somebody's house. We don't have proper seats and desks in the school.

The education promoters don't get a wage like the official teachers, we are not working for ourselves as individuals, we are sharing our knowledge.

We are suffering from the rich and the rulers. We are trying to take the education of our children forward, so the children can grow and continue in their life and the struggle. "

"We learn to share"

The education promoters work voluntarily. They are not working for a wage or for personal interests, they are acting on their conscience, teaching for the sake of the community.

" In our education we learn to co-operate, we learn to share. We hope that one day we will have peace and liberty."

What kind of activities do the pupils like?

"Drawing, particularly "El Sup" (Sub Comandante Marcos).

- But there isn't money needed to buy the books we need to learn.

- Please when you return let people know how we live. We hope that this won't be the last time that you visit."

"Venceremos"

After the meeting there was a cultural event, with music, songs, and games. The children, education promoters and other local people all participated.

Contributions included
- a song from the 3rd level students "heroes and martyrs"
- the youngest children in the1st level played musical chairs
- song from the 3rd level students "Venceremos"
- game where two children competed trying to burst the balloons tied to their ankles : called "pelea de gallo" or " a cock fight"
- a song from the 4th level students "mi corazon la conta"

In between the turns, education promoters read out short sayings about education, such as "Education needs to be shared amongst all."

As at the other schools we visited, we distributed the jotters and pencils bought by donations to the Scottish solidarity groups' appeal, and showed the children photos and books on Scotland, donated by a supporter in Edinburgh.

The Second Visit

In this community, the classes take place in a house lent by a local family, there is no proper school building. The village does not have their own education promoters, those who are here come from another municipality. There are around 70 students of which approximately 27 are girls. They have classes at five levels.

The poverty they live in makes things difficult, when their parents can't afford to buy the basic materials for the school (jotters, pencils etc.), some children don't want to go to classes.

At the same time there are great successes: There are some students that complete the 6th grade who want to become education promoters and go to the autonomous secondary school in Oventik.

Basic Resources

The school however lacks basic resources such as books, maps and general teaching material. There is also the problem that the education promoters come from far away and this represents an additional economic problem since it costs that quite a lot to sustain them (food, travel expenses).

However they are hoping to enable children to become promoters for their own community

Different from government schools, instead of focus on finding work and a house and an individualistic approach to life, focus on collectivism.

The Third Visit

Crammed into the small autonomous school, school students, education promoters, women and men talked to us about their lives and struggle:

The Autonomous Primary School

We founded the autonomous primary school in September 2004, it has 19 children attending, from the 1st to the 6th grade. We need more space for the school, we have only two small classrooms. We need money so we can buy the materials to build bigger classrooms.

The families have to buy the books and other materials for the students, because the school can't afford to buy them.

The Government Schools

The difference between the government schools and the autonomous schools is that in our schools we are working for our brothers. The government imposes education designed for the rich, it imposes its own ideas. It imposes another language. We develop our own language, our own culture.

For the government, education is a business. Here in our schools people study because they want to. With the bad government, people cannot study in school after they reach a certain age, here we don't limit learning according to age, people can study according to their needs.

The official government teachers weren't interested. They often only arrived once or twice each week. So we decided to form our autonomous school.

Education is a Need

For us as Zapatistas education is a need, a necessity, and we have to implement it ourselves. The government education is forcing ideas on the children which won't benefit them, far less the community. Here we share learning and learn from each other, it's not like the promoters know everything. Even the youngest child can contribute.

The Children Speak

We asked the children what things they liked to do best :

"I like everything"

"I like to study"

"I like sports"

"I like to sing and play"

"I like doing paintings of Marcos"

"I like the story of Miguel Hidalgo"

"I like the story of Emiliano Zapata"

We asked the children what things they need in the school:

"It's difficult to study because we don't have proper seats or furniture for the school"

"We don't have proper materials for education, like notebooks and pencils, this makes it difficult"

"I like to draw but we don't have coloured pencils"

The people stressed how autonomous education was a collective effort, right down to the basic tasks: We clean the school, this is something we do with everyone helping, we clear the rubbish out.

What is needed for our schools

"Education is very important. But our classrooms here are very poor. They are not adequate for a good education for the children. There isn't sufficient furniture for the school, there aren't enough desks, this is something we really need. There isn't enough space, we need bigger classrooms. Sometimes the children can't fit in, and have to sit on the floor.

It would be better if we had a better building, better classrooms. We also need teaching materials. We have found a place were we could build a new better school, but we haven't got the resources to build it yet. "

An Advance

Autonomous education is a very important advance for us, it's important that we teach in the two languages, both Spanish and our indigenous language.

Here, as at the other autonomous schools we visited, we took various educational materials for the school, including jotters, pencils, books of photos and calendars from Scotland, donations from the solidarity groups and supporters. The children especially enjoyed a calendar produced by "Scottish Child" portraying children from the poor Edinburgh council housing scheme of Craigmillar, and excitedly shouted out which of the photos they wanted us to leave with them.

The Fourth Visit

The community has its own autonomous school, with 75 pupils. The school started in 2004. Education is bilingual in Spanish and Tsotsil. The building used for the school is a meeting room, there is however no proper school building as such.

Hoping to train own promoters soon. At present the 4 education promoters come from another municipality to teach the children. However at present they only teach until 3rd grade. To become a promoter they normally need to finish the 6th grade so the school will need to extend the range of classes it teaches.

The people in one grade are of different ages, the grades are not separated by age but by ability. Some in 3rd grade are over 15. The majority of children now make it to school, there are actually more girls than boys amongst the students just now.

(NOTE This is significant progress from the not so distant past, when many children did not go to school, and most girls did not attend)